The cold air hit my face as I, alongside my co-workers, carried a month’s worth of work to the shore of campus lake. The crowd that surrounds me in a half circle claps and cheers when we touch foot to the cool, rough sand. As soon as me and my fellow co-captain get into our boat and touch the water, the crowd dips into silence.
On the morning of Saturday, April 26, Southern Illinois University hosted its 50th annual boat regatta, which I had the pleasure of participating in. People of all ages came to put their cardboard creations to the test to see whose boats could survive the smelly, cold campus lake. Races started at around 1 p.m. and featured three different categories for racers to compete in.
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My journey for the regatta started the week after spring break with the SIU RSO Alt. News 26:46, a PBS show where students tell the news in alternative ways. My executive producer, Brenna Gallagher, told us that we would be participating in the boat regatta with our own specially designed boat, the Alt. News TV. We got to work on the ship, borrowing cardboard from the SIU journalism director Jan Thompson.
We spent around three to four weeks sourcing cardboard, building the boat and spending our budget on duct tape. One day during a meeting, Brenna asked the boat-building team if anyone wanted to pilot the boat. Of course, I, the curious freshman, said yes alongside my co-captain of the ship, Lee Villarreal.
After deciding to turn our boat into a VHS tape, the day finally arrived at the Carbondale boat regatta. I was cold, hungry and excited about the boat race. While Villarreal and I waited for our heat to be called, I sat back and watched the other teams race on the lake with some fellow Daily Egyptian and Alt. News staff and crew. I got a little too excited by the boats, to the point I was yelling and moving my arms like Chris Farley did in the SNL sketch “Van down by the river.”
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Eventually, it was Alt. News’ time to shine. Some DE and Alt. News crew carried the boat to the launch point, and then the air got tense. There I was, with Villareal in the boat floating on the water, waiting for the air horn to go off, then a quietness filled the crowd, and the air got thicker.
“On your mark…get set…” the ref said, then time moved slowly, only to be interrupted by the loud air horn. We were off, paddling as fast as we could on the lake.
“Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left.” We shouted while we paddled across the lake.
My shoulders felt like they were about to rip off while my face was covered with more sweat than water in the campus lake. By the time we reached the first turn, I felt like I wanted to throw up, give up, and eat a bagel all in one consecutive moment. But by the time we reached the final turn, I knew it was time to truly lock in.
“Alt. News, Alt. News, Alt. News,” we chanted while paddling.
We were approaching the end, and I felt gutsy. I stopped paddling and told the crowd of people to cheer us on, only to get the response from one of the event attendees of, “You’ve got to paddle the boat and stop yelling for us!”
After Lee and I crossed the finish line, we got out of our semi-waterlogged boat and started to carry it back to where we were originally located. I definitely needed a nap and probably some apple slices for my hard work.
As a boat we placed second in our heat. We may not have won a trophy, but we did end up finishing with a time of six minutes and thirty seconds, beating the DE advertising team by 30 seconds, and that is worth more than any trophy the boat regatta would have handed out.
Overall, the regatta was a fun experience, and I recommend that you, the reader of my article, give the boat regatta a try next year, and if you do, bring me some apple slices, please.
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